The stolen phones were equipped with security programs that effectively shut them down when stolen, police said. 'They essentially become a paperweight'

For the Brampton bandits, it must have seemed like the score to end all scores: An entire delivery truck packed nose to tail with brand new, high-end smartphones and tablets with a total retail value of almost $7 million. That’s the kind of cash that matters. For a 75-year-old stickup man, it’s retirement money — the kind of haul that can get you out of the game for good.

Their plan went off without a hitch, too. At least at first. The bandits hijacked a truck last March 13 in Brampton, just outside of Toronto, according to Peel Regional Police. They blocked off the truck with a car, held the driver at gunpoint, then drove him and it to a nearby industrial park. There they unloaded the goods — 8,500 devices in total — packed them all into a new truck and drove away.

Easy money. Or so they thought. But the aging bandits of Brampton were in for a surprise.

Members of the same group tried another heist in July. Just after 2 a.m., they approached a warehouse yard in Halton Hills, a Toronto suburb. They held the security guard at gunpoint: camera footage shows one of the bandits gripping a terrified man in a headlock, pushing a pistol into his back. But they abandoned the plot when they realized they were being filmed.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised

They were at it again later that summer, according to police. On Aug. 25, the same group broke into a Mississauga truck yard and stole three commercial trucks and two trailers. Later that same night, police arrested four of the men en route to what investigators believe was another hijacking. The officers found a loaded Smith & Wesson, duct tape, rope, zip ties and bear spray with the men. In September, Peel police arrested what they say were the two other members of the group.

Investigators laid a total of 63 charges against the six men, including a mix of kidnapping, robbery and gun offences. At a press conference in Mississauga Wednesday, acting Det. Steve Sherwin, the lead investigator, displayed a picture of their six mug shots on a big screen. One of the pictures, on the bottom right of the grid, stuck out. It was the face of Cecil Young, accused stickup artist, armed robber, and man who was alive to see the end of the Second World War.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised that a 75-year-old man was charged,” Sherwin said when asked about Young’s unusual age (for an accused hijacker). Young was the oldest of the alleged stickup gang. But none of them are young. Garnett Ricketts, 45, Ian Mitchell, 47, Dexter Abrams, 49, Christopher Mornan, 50, and Kendrick Young, 61 were also charged.

Sherwin said investigators have so far found no link between the men and any form of organized crime. He did say all were previously known to police and urged anyone, in any other part of Canada, with knowledge of similar crimes, to get in touch, adding that the arrested men had ties to communities across Eastern and Western Canada. “Our purpose today is to get their faces out,” he said.

Goods seized in the arrest of six men in a multi-million dollar electronics heist, at Peel Police headquarters in Mississauga on Oct. 9, 2019.

As to why the men allegedly kept going back after landing such an incredible score in March, well, it turns out their initial haul wasn’t quite what it seemed. The phones, including devices from Apple, LG, Huawei and Motorola, were equipped with security programs that effectively shut them down when stolen, Sherwin said. “They essentially become a paperweight.”

Imagine that. A boomer foiled by tech. It’s unthinkable.

Investigators have recovered some of the phones and tablets; they put them on display in Mississauga Wednesday. But the rest of them are still out there, locked off and presumably worthless.

The truck driver in the first heist was traumatized but not physically harmed, Sherwin said. The security guard from the aborted robbery in July was roughed up and terrified before being released.

None of the allegations against the six accused have been proven in court. The investigation continues.

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